Phoenix Suns Michael Beasley playing great because he &quot;stopped listening&quot; to coaches, everybody

Posted on Apr 06, 2013

Usually, I like to provide insights and color to player interviews. But let's just read the unvarnished transcript.

Reporter: "Mike, what's been the difference for you the last couple of games?"

Beasley: "Um, stop listening to people. Doing what I know how to do. That's really it. The more I listen to people, the more I got to think about. It messes me up trying to think about a thousand things. I stopped listening to people, started trusting my instincts again."

Reporter: "[stuttering]...uh... what did... err.. you mean media, or what people would you be referring to?"

Beasley: "Everybody."

Reporter: "Everybody?"

Beasley: "Everybody. I don't really read articles. But you know, just everybody. My friends, my family, teammates, coaches. Just everybody. Everybody telling me 'you need to do that' or 'do that' or this gets you open. I'm the one playing. I'm the one controlling my fate. It's just trusting my instincts, being aggressive and doing what I know best."

My friends, my family, teammates, coaches. Just everybody. -Beasley, on who he stopped listening to

Reporter: "You mentioned coaches in there. Aren't the coaches supposed to be trying to work with you, trying to help you and get in your comfort zone and so forth?"

Beasley: "Yeah, definitely, but at the same time I'm the one out there in the fire. You know what I'm saying? The coach can tell me what he sees from a third-party perspective, but I'm seeing it first hand. So once I set a screen and I roll and another guy steps up, if you don't step all the way up you get a jump shot or [unintelligible] you get JO a dunk. You know there's so many things that I can can do that only my instincts can tell me (finger snap) at a moments' notice."

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Mind you, this was after interim head coach Lindsey Hunter praised Beasley's effort and attention over the past couple of weeks after regularly commenting on Beasley's lack thereof throughout the season.

Is it sustainable to stop listening to the coaches who have invested so much time and effort into him this season?

Probably not, if history is any indicator of the future.

But certainly, Hunter's style is to require players to pay attention. And Beasley's style is to appear he's not doing that. Whenever he has a good game (the handful this season) he's attributed his instincts and a clear mind to that success, rather than coaching or any influence outside himself.